February 2- Is the Lord Going to Take Care of Us or Not?

February 2, 2011

Exodus 15:19-17:7; Matthew 22:1-33;
Psalm 27: 1-6; Proverbs 6:20-26

Happiness is like manna; it is to be gathered in grains, and enjoyed every day. It will not keep; it cannot be accumulated; nor have we got to go out of ourselves or into remote places to gather it, since it has rained down from Heaven, at our very door."  
~Tryon Edwards

Exodus 15:19-17:7

Can you imagine being the leader of one million people who have just left their comfortable homes and are now camping in the desert?  Do you like to camp?  One of the main reasons that I hesitate to camp is that cooking and preparing food is such a pain in the neck when you are camping.  Nothing is convenient from heating the food to getting rid of the left overs.  Everything is difficult and I often feel like grumbling and complaining when camping.

God realizes the predicament that the Israelites are in.  He solves the whole camping issue by miraculously providing food for forty years! Ladies, we are talking fast food for a generation!  The bread called manna was sweet.  Manna means "What is it?" God also sent quail each day for their meat. God only required that they obey a few rules in order to get the fast food.  They had to participate in the miracle by gathering just enough for each days needs and enough for two days needs prior to the Sabbath rest day. This required obedience and faith. God tested the faith of the Israelites for forty years. They had the privilege of participating in the miraculous for forty years! Forty happens to be the number of preparation in Scripture. This feeding miracle was a means of preparing the Israelites for entrance into the Promised Land.

You and I receive blessings from heaven every day, too. God's universal grace is poured out on His creation through nature. The sun shine that provides vitamin D3 for our skin and actually helps strengthen our bones is a gift from God. The rain that pours down and waters the earth, quenching our thirst and maintaining our bodies which are 55-75 percent water, is a constant miracle. We must mentally and spiritually gather in each miracle of provision daily. Our obedience in this process guarantees entrance into the Promised Land of the abundant Christian life. Remember to be thankful and gather in your blessings each day.

In order to remember God's provision once they were in the land, God had them preserve some of the manna for future generations to see in the Ark of the Covenant.  After rescuing them from slavery, killing the Pharaoh and helping them to gain wealth by plundering the Egyptians, God is now showing His power again.  He is proving that He provides for His People.  May I say that God is demonstrating what a good husband and father does for those under his care.

As you might guess, the people complained anyway and also continued to question whether God would really take care of them.  Before we judge the Israelites too harshly, let's consider whether or not we are guilty of doing the same thing in our lives.  Do you and I ever exhibit a lack of faith?  Are you often grumbling to God about your life circumstances?  Do you worry about clothing, money, and food?  Yeah, me, too. Like the Israelites, it is easy to lack faith and forget God's great provisions. Okay then, we should back off on judging the Israelites.

Lesson:  God cares for our needs.  He is a good provider. He is powerful and uses His power for our good. We can rest in that truth. We can participate in the miraculous by faithful obedience to Christ.

Do you trust God for the little things in life?  Are you in the habit of grumbling about your life circumstances?

Matthew 22:1-33

"Your problem is that you don't know the Scriptures and you don't know the power of God."  Matthew 22:33

Today Christ is dealing with the religious leaders. His conclusion is that they do not know their Scriptures. That is a pretty strong indictment.


First, he tells a parable of a king who has a wedding feast.  The first invited guests don't show up for the dinner.  In anger, the king invites whoever is on the street to the feast.   After telling this story, Jesus says, "Many are called, but few are chosen."  This is a further explanation of the push and pull relationship that God has with His chosen people, the Israelites.  The initial guests are the Israelites.  The Gentiles are the people off of the streets. The story illustrates the initial rejection by his own people that Christ will experience. It is the rejection of Christ by the nation of Israel that acts as the catalyst for the Gentiles to accept Christ as their Messiah (Romans 11). 

Next, the religious leaders try to trap him on the tax issue.  Jesus says to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's.  The trap doesn't work.  The leaders and the people are amazed at Christ's wisdom. 

Then the Sadducees confront him about marriage in heaven.  Strange that they would do this because they don't even believe in resurrection.  Jesus knows this and rebukes their ignorance. He proceeds to explain that we are resurrected in the end of time, but will exist like the angels without marriage. Note that Jesus did not say we become angels. He merely states that like angels we will not be given in marriage in our resurrected bodies. Marriage is not a part of the new earth.  Remember that marriage is a picture on this earth about God and His people.  It is a picture of God's intimacy with those who love Him. In the new earth, this picture is no longer necessary.  We will be in perfect intimacy without the separation that sin causes. 

Jesus emphasizes that God is the God of the Living. This means that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's souls still exist.  You and I will live after we die, if we trust in Christ.  Talk about good news!

Lesson:  We need to be wedded to Christ.  We will live after we die. We can look forward to perfect intimacy with God one day.

Have you accepted the invitation?  How can you live like you will never die?

Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation-so why should I be afraid?  That says it all, folks!

Proverbs 6:20-26

Wear the words of your elders around your neck to remind you.  Stay away from sexual immorality.  Remember the picture of God and marriage.

What did you notice today?

Blessings,

Jubilee Gal

Kathy Fullerton